Terry Lanni, chairman of the board and chief executive of MGM Mirage, has resigned from the board of the American Gaming Association (AGA), the trade group for U.S. casino interests.
Lanni says he has stepped down due to time constraints.
"I needed time from the AGA to focus on trying to find a solution to the bigger problems of this state [Neveda]," Lanni told the Las Vegas Sun.
Lanni's recent disagreement with Harrah's chief executive Gary Loveman, who is chairman of the AGA, has been much publicized. Loveman favors a Nevada teachers union proposal to raise the state's hotel room tax by three percentage points and to allocate all of the proceeds to education. Lanni would rather increase Nevada's payroll tax in addition to the hotel room tax, and allocate the money toward the state's general fund.
"Why education should be paid for by visitors I've never quite understood," Lanni said. "Businesses that operate here should be willing to fund education."
Lanni insists that his resignation has nothing to do with any personal or political conflicts.